This is such an interesting thread! I'm a newly minted private heli rating, I mean spanking new, and obviously auto's are very fresh in my mind. Strangely enough, I found it quite natural to put in a bit of collective right at the end of the flare, pretty much simultaneously with rolling the throttle back on (no full down's for U.S. private students, etc.) and just an instant prior to leveling the ship. This is in the R22. My instructors were not enamored of that practice, wishing me to roll on at the end of the flare, level and then start pulling on the collective. Concerns included using up valuable energy and ballooning. I did, however, tend to flare a bit more aggressively than most so rotor speed was usually up there, however ballooning was a real concern if timing was off. We worked quite a lot on moderating the flare and stretching it out a bit to let the ship slow down and keep the rotor speed where it belongs. I suppose it will all come together when and if I get to do any full downs. Practice ones, that is! I just started scratching the surface of commercial training and my commercial instructor is already having me do some full down precursor exercises, settling into run-on landings, so maybe towards the end, although my understanding is that commercial students don't do them either.